Oregon officials in 2002 were on the brink of preventing contractors from demolishing homes in a way that can release cancer-causing asbestos fibers into the air that people breathe.

After more than year of deliberations, revisions and arguments among about a dozen Department of Environmental Quality officials, the agency's governing board enacted a rule making contractors search for asbestos before doing a demolition.

But within months of getting the asbestos rule on the books, the agency asked construction industry associations what they thought of it.

That changed everything.

What regulators knew

Environmental officials have known since the 1980s that simply telling contractors to remove asbestos before a demolition isn't enough to ensure it gets done. An obvious but critical step was missing: Contractors were under no obligation to check for asbestos from the beginning.

An official with the Department of Environmental Quality told Oregon lawmakers in 1989 that contractors would not take proper precautions in handling materials with asbestos "unless it is known in advance that the material does contain asbestos."

Lawmakers rejected the department's plea for a law requiring asbestos inspections. But the environmental quality agency took another shot 13 years later.

In a process that avoided the Legislature, the department adopted a rule in February 2002 that required every building to be checked for asbestos before a demolition or a renovation.

But due to a clerical error, a few industry associations didn't know about the rule in time to comment. They weren't on the Air Quality program's mailing lists, the department explained later in regulatory filings, and were caught unawares once the rule passed.

So even though the rule was already in place, the Department of Environmental Quality asked trade groups for feedback retroactively.

Where is asbestos in my home?If your home was built before the mid-80s, it's likely to have asbestos. Watch to learn some of the most common places you might find asbestos in your home.

Agency officials didn't give the association a chance to comment before enacting the rule. The survey requirement created an incentive for homeowners to remove asbestos on their own. There wouldn't be enough licensed inspectors to meet demand. And, finally, the state never proved the survey requirement was necessary.

Chandler suggested that the department stick to federal asbestos standards, which don't require inspections for asbestos in buildings with less than five residential units.

About four months later, the environmental agency's governing board voted to pull back the rule, citing the need to "provide immediate relief" for businesses.

John Mayer, owner of asbestos-removal company Lake Oswego Environmental, wrote to the state to say that the rule change was working as intended: He was getting much fewer "surprise asbestos problems" than before.

Ed Edinger, who started training asbestos workers and inspectors 25 years ago, said withdrawing the requirement for contractors to inspect for asbestos would increase asbestos exposure to both families and contractors.

That prediction came true. Contractors have routinely failed to address the presence of asbestos when demolishing homes, an analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive found. In Portland during the past four years alone, contractors have demolished hundreds of houses with asbestos inside.

The agency's land quality division director at the time, Dick Pedersen, voiced uncertainty about reviving the asbestos rule that industry so strongly opposed.

"I am not sure we have had a full discussion on the need for this rule," Pedersen wrote in an email to staff, "especially following the issues raised by the associations."

Pedersen was promoted to run the environmental agency in 2008 and remains its director today. Through a spokeswoman, he declined a request for an interview.

Today

Despite the agency's trepidation in 2002, a bill to require asbestos inspections sailed through the Oregon Legislature this year with minimal industry opposition.

Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, introduced the legislation on behalf of neighborhood activists requiring owners or contractors to inspect for asbestos on home demolition projects. It does not cover renovations as the state did in 2002.

Dembrow said the bill was an easy call because "protecting the public health is obviously a job for the government."

The environmental agency took no position on whether the legislation was needed. In a written statement, officials said the department generally remains neutral on bills that the agency didn't initiate.

When The Oregonian/OregonLive asked whether the department would bear responsibility if somebody contracted an asbestos-related disease because of the agency's 2002 reversal, environmental regulators put the onus on homeowners:

As for Chandler, he said he had no qualms about his association's work in 2002.

Asked if the association was responsible for the thousands of homes likely demolished with asbestos inside since the department rolled back the survey requirement 13 years ago, Chandler, the association's current president, said emphatically, "No. Heavens, no."

"That responsibility is theirs," he said of the department. "The agency's job is to take input, and we gave input. What they do with that input is up to the agency."